The present invention relates generally to the field of motor vehicles, and in particular, to a new and useful wiper apparatus for a driver-side or passenger-side window of a motor vehicle of the type that is meant to open and close, usually vertically, in a side door or side body of the vehicle.
Motor vehicles commonly include side windows that can be opened and closed by movement in the vertical direction. Whether such movable side windows are installed in side doors or in fixed side components of the vehicle body (for example, in the case of recreational vehicles or buses) it is conventional to include factory installed weather stripping that excludes weather from the interior of the door, whether the window is opened or closed. Such weather stripping is commonly referred to as belt weather stripping since it usually includes both interior and exterior components that allow a vertically movable window pane to move up and down in the door or side body of the vehicle. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,442,156; 4,970,102; and 5,005,317, as examples. The prior art includes many other examples.
Such factory installed weather stripping may or may not wipe the surface of the window as it rises and lowers, sufficiently to remove water, fog or mist, in particular, from the outer surface of the window.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,636,775; 2,633,380; and 2,704,689, disclose examples of window wiping apparatuses to be installed by the owner of a vehicle as an aftermarket product, which wipe the outer surface of motor vehicle side window panes, as the window panes move in the vehicle door, to remove water, fog or mist. These references generally require the use of screws for attaching the wiping apparatus to the body of a vehicle which are unsightly and/or damage the vehicle in case the apparatus is to be removed.
A need remains for an aftermarket, side widow wiping apparatus that can easily be installed on a vehicle, without damaging the vehicle body, and that effectively wipes the side window of water, fog or mist, when the side window pane is moved, usually, but not always, in a vertical direction.